Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Review: The Perfume Thief by Timothy Schaffert

Louise Ward
Hawkes Bay Today·
1 Dec, 2021 11:59 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
The Perfume Thief by Timothy Schaffert

The Perfume Thief by Timothy Schaffert

The Perfume Thief – Timothy Schaffert (Knopf Doubleday, $35.00)
Reviewed by Louise Ward, Wardini Books

Paris during the war – most of us have read many a novel in this genre, but the intrigue, danger and conspiracy stoppered within The Perfume Thief is diffused through scent, giving it a different nose altogether.

Clementine is a parfumier living in a rambling old house in occupied Paris in which she harbours lost boy Blue and any number of abused and endangered girls from the local Cabaret (brothel), Madame Boulette's, who will be rounded up and arrested unless they can escape.

Her dear friend Day, a singer hiding her mixed heritage from the Nazi punters crawling all over the Cabaret, introduces her to Zoe St Angel, a songbird kept caged by a Nazi officer. Zoe has a secret all of her own that will set 72-year-old Clem, former thief extraordinaire, on a quest to find a perfume recipe book that could be the saving or the downfall of them all.

The scents in the story are phenomenal. For any reader with the ability to conjure a whiff from words, this book is bliss. The notes found in perfumes and liquors, harvested from the most exotic of plants and insects, combine in the concoctions Clem creates to evoke memories and recreate moments in time. Clem, who has dressed after the male fashion for most of her life, seeks among other things, the formula to Gabrielle, a scent not so secretly synonymous with sapphism.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

To find the perfume book, Clem must befriend Oskar Voss, a Nazi who wants the recipes for reasons of his own, and prizes Clem's knowledge of Paris and of perfume. It's occupied France in the World War II and Clem is a lesbian who dresses as a man hanging out with a Nazi keen to impress Hitler — the danger she is in is intense.

The sights, sounds and smells of Paris, and in particular the world of underground creatives pursuing their banned callings, are beautifully evoked in The Perfume Thief. It's glamorous, intriguing (what does Hitler want with perfume?), dangerous and enlightening. Heady stuff.

Discover more

New Zealand

Terry the turtle's shift to tank with friends stalls

26 Nov 02:32 AM
New Zealand

$25 Hawke's Bay wine judged one of world's best for 2021

29 Nov 09:38 AM
Save
    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Police find huge cannabis operation inside building: 'It wasn't here three months ago'

11 Sep 03:24 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Teen challenges Napier mayoral candidates at debate, saying youth ‘don’t feel welcome’

11 Sep 03:22 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

The quiet force giving hope to the Bay’s long-term unemployed

11 Sep 02:26 AM

Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Police find huge cannabis operation inside building: 'It wasn't here three months ago'
Hawkes Bay Today

Police find huge cannabis operation inside building: 'It wasn't here three months ago'

Detective says landlords need to be wary of what their tenants are doing.

11 Sep 03:24 AM
Teen challenges Napier mayoral candidates at debate, saying youth ‘don’t feel welcome’
Hawkes Bay Today

Teen challenges Napier mayoral candidates at debate, saying youth ‘don’t feel welcome’

11 Sep 03:22 AM
The quiet force giving hope to the Bay’s long-term unemployed
Hawkes Bay Today

The quiet force giving hope to the Bay’s long-term unemployed

11 Sep 02:26 AM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP